Case: 18-50757 Document: 00514984323 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/05/2019 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit No. 18-50757 FILED Summary Calendar June 5, 2019 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee v. MARIA ANGELICA CASTANEDA-GARCIA, Defendant-Appellant Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC No. 7:18-CR-73-1 Before KING, SOUTHWICK, and ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: * Maria Angelica Castaneda-Garcia appeals the 30-month sentence she received following her guilty-plea conviction for aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324. She challenges the district court’s assessment of a four-point offense-level increase, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.1(b)(4), due to the offense involving the transportation of an unaccompanied minor, as well as the district court’s failure to reduce her * Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. Case: 18-50757 Document: 00514984323 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/05/2019 No. 18-50757 offense level by two points under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 for acceptance of responsibility. This court reviews the district court’s interpretation and application of the Sentencing Guidelines de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. United States v. Johnson, 619 F.3d 469, 472 (5th Cir. 2010). “A factual finding is not clearly erroneous as long as it is plausible in light of the record read as a whole.” United States v. Ruiz-Hernandez, 890 F.3d 202, 212 (5th Cir. 2018) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted), cert. denied, 139 S. Ct. 278 (Oct. 1, 2018). Section 2L1.1(b)(4) provides for a four-level increase to a defendant’s base offense level “[i]f the offense involved the smuggling, transporting, or harboring of a minor who was unaccompanied by the minor’s parent, adult relative, or legal guardian.” U.S.S.G. § 2L1.1(b)(4). The Presentence Report (PSR) based its finding that one of the aliens Castaneda-Garcia transported was an unaccompanied minor on investigative reports and information provided by the Government establishing the following: that one of the aliens was under the age of 18 at the time of the offense; that he was deported without being prosecuted for immigration offenses (the usual course for juvenile aliens); that he was from Guatemala, whereas the other seven aliens in Castaneda-Garcia’s vehicle were from Mexico; and that none of the other aliens shared a common name with him, meaning that there was no indication that they were related. Castaneda-Garcia presented no evidence to rebut the findings in the PSR, and she points to nothing in the record to support her argument that the findings are materially unreliable or untrue. Consequently, she fails to show that the district court’s finding that her offense involved an unaccompanied minor, based on the unrebutted evidence in the PSR, was clearly erroneous. See Ruiz-Hernandez, 890 F.3d at 212; see also United States 2 Case: 18-50757 Document: 00514984323 Page: 3 Date ...
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